Opelika's Pepperell Mill and Village now on the National Register of Historic Places; see images of community

OPELIKA, Alabama -- Opelika's Pepperell Mill and Village are now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The site containing 223 properties was approved for the significance the mill had on Opelika's growth and development as it was the city's largest industry from its 1925 founding until its closure in 2006, according to the city of Opelika.

Lisa Harrelson, Opelika's historic preservation coordinator, said the mill and village were nominated because of their importance to Opelika's history.

She said she now hopes the designation will create a sense of pride in the community.

The Pepperell Mill and Village are also significant for its documentation of a planned textile mill village.

"It was a little town in its own until Opelika started spreading out," Harrelson said.

The village was constructed primarily between 1925 and 1940 by the Pepperell Manufacturing Company to house employees of its Opelika textile mill, according to the National Park Service. The village was initially comprised of approximately 100 houses, but by 1946 had about 240 buildings , including dwellings , a church, a school, a grocery store, a post office, a drugstore, a barber shop, a gas station , and a childcare facility. The company retained ownership of the mill village until 1958, when it began selling the house lots to individual owners.

The architecture of the buildings in the village are representative examples of textile mill residential and industrial commercial. Standardized mill housing, many with Craftsman/Bungalow style details illustrating common folk forms such as gable fronts, pyramidal, and massed plan variations.

Harrelson said 70 percent of the Pepperell Mill was lost to a fire in March 2013, and it is now considered a historic site.

Before the fire, the new owner had planned to turn the mill into residential housing, she said.

Most of the other buildings in the village are in good shape and still in use, Harrelson said

Now, property owners can receive federal and state tax credits to do renovations.

"I would hope that now that the properties are on the National Register that it would give the (owners) a sense of pride and encourage them to take better care of their properties," Harrelson said.

And, being on the National Register will attract more tourists to the village, she said.